CONGEESS, UNITED STATES. (!NTKENAL REVENUE AND TAEIFF.) 193 



an appropriation for steamboat mail service; 

 and another struck out the following provision 

 of the original bill : 



Provided, That for the better accomplishment of 

 the objects of the acts authorizing the construction of 

 the railroads hereinafter referred to, and the better to 

 secure to the Government the use and benefit of the 

 same, the acts authorizing the building and construc- 

 tion of those railroads which have received, in addi- 

 tion to land grants, Government aid by the loan or 

 guarantee of bonds by the United States, and all other 

 acts, parts of acts, and provisions having relation 

 thereto, are hereby so altered, amended, and modified 

 that hereafter the compensation paid or allowed for 

 the carrying and transportation of the United States 

 mails by such railroad companies, or their assigns or 

 successors, shall be fixed by the Postmaster- General, 

 at a rate not exceeding that fixed by him or allowed 

 by law to other railway companies of the same class 

 to which the United States have furnished aid by 

 grant of land, right of way, or otherwise. 



The House non-concurred in these amend- 

 ments, and three conference committees in 

 succession discussed the points of difference, 

 and failed to come to a complete agreement. 

 The last committee fixed Oct. 1, 1883, as the 

 date for the reduction of the rate of letter- 

 postage ; and finally, on March 2d, the House 

 receded from its non-concurrence in the strik- 

 ing out of the provision in regard to the land- 

 grant railroads and the insertion of an appro- 

 priation for fast mails. The next day the 

 measure as amended was approved by the 



T\ ~t ** * 



President. 



Internal Revenue and Tariff Legislation. The Tar- 

 iff Commission appointed under the act of Con- 

 gress, approved May 15, 1882, made a report to 

 the House of Representatives Dec. 4, 1882, and 

 the report submitted became the basis of the 

 legislation for tariff revision that took up so 

 great a part of the session. The report, after a 

 general view of the tariff problem, took up each 

 class of articles and gave an account of the con- 

 dition of trade in them and the nature of the 

 action to be taken with respect to duties levied 

 on them, and the data on which such action was 

 based. It closed with a schedule of proposed 

 duties and a statement of proposed amend- 

 ments to the revised statutes. The reduction 

 which the committee recommended averaged 

 not less than 20 per cent. In some cases it 

 was slight; in others no reduction was at- 

 tempted at all; and in many instances there 

 was a scaling down of from 40 to 50 per cent. 

 On the report of the commission as a basis, 

 the House Committee of Ways and Means re- 

 ported a tariff bill Jan. 16, 1883, which was 

 taken up and elaborated with great care; but 

 in the mean while, a bill to reduce internal 

 revenue taxation which had passed the House 

 and had been referred to the Finance Com- 

 mittee of the Senate, was reported back to that 

 body Jan. 4, 1883, with amendments virtually 

 revising the whole tariff system and the ma- 

 chinery for carrying it out, which amend- 

 ments were based also upon the report of the 

 tariff commission. The Senate entered upon 

 the discussion of this measure with zeal, and 

 VOL. xxin. 13 A 



debated it item by item at great length. It 

 was passed Feb. 20, 1883, by the following 

 vote: 



YEAS Aldrich, Allison, Anthony, Barrow, Bay- 

 ard, Blair, Brown, Camden Cameron of Wisconsin, 

 Conger, Davis of Illinois, Davis of West Virginia, 

 Dawes, Edmunds, Frye, Gorman, Hale, Harrison, 

 Hawley, Hoar, Ingalls, Jackson, Jones of Florida, 

 Jones of Nevada, Kellogg, Logan, McMillan, McPher- 

 spn, Miller of California, Miller of New York, Mor- 

 rill, Platt, Plumb, Rollins, Sawyer, Sewell, Sher- 

 man, Slater, Tabor, Van Wyck, Windom 42. 



NAYS Beck, Call, Cockrell, Coke, Farley, Gar- 

 land, George, Hampton, Harris, Maxey, Mitchell, 

 Pendleton, Pugh, Ransom, Vance, Vest, Voorhees, 

 Walker, Williams 19. 



ABSENT Butler, Cameron of Pennsylvania. Fair, 

 Ferry, Groome. Grover, Johnston, Jonas, Lamar, 

 Lapham, McDill, Mahone, Morgan, Saulsbury, Saun- 

 ders 15. 



It was determined by the majority in the 

 House to abandon the tariff bill of that body 

 and act upon the internal - revenue bill as 

 amended by the Senate, and in order to facili- 

 tate the consideration of the measure in the 

 House, the Committee on Rules reported Feb. 

 24, 1883, the following amendment to the rules 

 of that body : 



During the remainder of this session it shall be in 

 order at any time to move to suspend the rules, which 

 motion shall be decided by a majority vote, to take 

 from the Speaker's table House bill No. 5538, with 

 the Senate amendment thereto, entitled "A bill to 

 reduce internal-revenue taxation," and to declare a 

 disagreement with the Senate amendment to the 

 same, and to ask for a committee of conference there- 

 on, to be composed of five members on the part of the 

 House. If such motion shall fail, the bill shall re- 

 main upon the Speaker's table unaffected by the de- 

 cision of the House upon said motion. 



^ After a brief but bitter opposition, this spe- 

 cial rule was adopted Feb. 27th. As a ques- 

 tion of privilege,Mr. Hammond, of Georgia, then 

 submitted the* following resolution : 



Resolved, That the substitute of the Senate (H. R. 

 5538) entitled " An act to reduce internal- revenue 

 taxation, and for other purposes," under the form of 

 an amendment to the bill of the House (H. R. 5538) 

 entitled "An act to reduce internal-revenue taxation," 

 containing a general revision and repeal of laws im- 

 posing both import duties and internal taxes, is in 

 conflict with the true intent and purposes of that 

 clause of the Constitution which requires " all bills 

 for raising revenue shall originate in the House of 

 Representatives"; and that therefore said bill so 

 amended do lie upon the table. 



And be it further resolved, That the Clerk of the 

 House be and is hereby directed to notify the Senate 

 of the passage of the foregoing resolution. 



On motion of Mr. Haskell, of Kansas, the 

 following preamble and resolution were sub- 

 stituted and adopted : 



Whereas, House bill 5538, entitled " An act to re- 

 duce internal revenue taxation, and for other pur- 

 poses," under the form of an amendment in the Sen- 

 ate, to title 33 of the Revised Statutes, which provides 

 for duties on imports, has been so modified and 

 changed by the introduction of new provisions, con- 

 taining among other things a general revision of the 

 statutes referred to so as both to increase and reduce 

 duties on imports, and in many instances to repeal 

 and in others to amend the laws imposing import du- 

 ties; and 



